


About Loyality

by Rona23



Series: Merlin´s  magic [5]
Category: Merlin (TV), Merlin - Fandom
Genre: Gen, Sassy, Sassy Merlin (Merlin), Scars, Serket Sting, Torture, canon compatible, serkent sting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-08
Updated: 2020-01-08
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:09:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,101
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22172341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rona23/pseuds/Rona23
Summary: Merlin is tortured. Again....Merlin is not impressed. Arthur - however - is.(Basically a scar reveal fanfiction)
Relationships: Merlin & Arthur Pendragon (Merlin)
Series: Merlin´s  magic [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1588378
Comments: 25
Kudos: 1341





	About Loyality

**Author's Note:**

> So basically, I had this idea that Arthur would be pressured into the idea of testing Merlin´s loyalty. But I couldn´t imagine Arthur do that to him, so I altered it to a more fitting situation

It began how many stories begin.   
With a feast. Not that there was a special occasion for it or anything. It was just a gathering of royal families with their soon to be knights sons and their wealthy daughters and so on and so forth. 

Women in fancy dresses were talking to boys in overly cleaned armor, while their personal servants hushed around. Just doing their purpose.   
The wealthy tried to seduce each other, why the servants went for their duties. It was such a common occurrence, the working class was nearly invisible to the rest. 

It was then, that Arthur sat between old friends of his father (who had recently deceased) who kept giving him their condolences. Boot lickers – all of them, Arthur decided in his head, but kept smiling.   
His faked smiled turned real, when he saw his servant approaching.   
“I´m afraid, Sire, I must inform you that Sir Gwaine has broken one of the tables in the kitchen.   
Bread is out for now, my lord.”  
Arthur´s smile fell again. He barely noticed how the women next to him raised a suspicious eyebrow. 

“But – Merlin, we need bread! “We cannot serve just meat.”, Arthur was irritated, but Merlin just sighed with a grin.   
“Well – I´m sure your belt won´t mind.” The man to Arthur´s right spit out his drink. 

“Are you calling me fat, Merlin?”  
“What? No, I would never. Just saying it wouldn´t hurt you to eat a little less.”  
With that he bowed and left, while Arthur threw an apple after him. Merlin chuckled and dodged, as he left the room. Trying to help with whatever mess was happening in the kitchen. 

“You let your servant talk to you like that?”, one of the laughing royals spoke to him.   
Arthur shrunk in his seat. Merlin was his friend, surely. But how could he ever admit that to his father´s old friends?

“If he was my servant, I´d have him whipped in the dungeons. I strongly advice you to speak some manners into him.”, Lady Valery said. She had long brown hair that flowed down her back in waves. Not unlike Gwen´s.   
Arthur remembered how his father had tried to get them together, when they were younger. Despite the age difference of almost five years (she was older).   
Today she had a son at the age of three. He was playing with other children his age somewhere in the courtyard. They played a game called execution. (They were burning sorcerers.)

“Well – Merlin is -”, Arthur searched for the right words. “Special.”, he said, but Lady Valery only sighed. Her husband, Sir Bernard shook his head in disapproval.   
“He is a servant, nothing more. See? Thomas!”, he said with a serious face, as a small boy, no older than 17 faced him with fear in his eyes.   
“Dance.”, he said in a commanding tone. The servant´s eyes widened, but not in surprise, but shame and fear. His eyes searched for Arthur´s, then he began dancing.   
It was only now that Arthur noticed the boy was limping on one foot. 

As a result of that, the boy was stumbling on his feet, almost falling over with each step.   
“Faster.”, Sir Bernard demanded, clapping to give the boy a tact to dance to. 

Arthur shoved his chair back, as he stood up momentarily. “Stop this, right now!”, he demanded at Sir Bernard. Who didn´t look impressed, but disappointed.   
“I should have known. Your father has shown you far too much kindness to you. Thomas, back to work.”   
The boy bowed, seemingly glad Arthur had stopped his misery, as he stumbled back to serve vine to the royals. 

“He was limping!”, Arthur said, his entire demeanor full of shock. 

Sir Bernard scratched his reddish beard as he noticed too.   
“Oh, yes. You are right. I guess we´ll have to replace him soon.”, he nodded, leaving Arthur breathless. 

“Oh, I know. Let´s play the game we used to play with Uther when we were younger!”, Lady Valery suddenly clapped her hands. And for a second, Arthur felt relieved enough to sit down again. 

Sir Bernard grinned. “Oh yes. Great idea. Which ones are we choosing this time?”, he asked, grinning at his wive.   
Arthur raised his eyebrows in suspicion. 

Lady Valery turned around. “Well, I guess you don´t know of this game. Uther stopped it as soon as his war against sorcery started. Around when you were born.   
So basically, we each choose a servant... Well not exactly choose, we take the one closest to us. They will be ordered to go to a room together and then get abducted by a man who will force information on our kingdoms out of them ...”

“You want to torture your own servants?”, Arthur was shocked to the core. 

“Don´t make it sound that harsh, Arthur. It´s a test. Whether or not they are trustworthy. Your manservant is very close to you, young king. He knows you better than anyone else. Depending on the time he spends there.   
There are many situations in which he would have the chance to kill you, poison you, hurt you and so on. They have access to all your keys, the information of your kingdom and so on.   
We are just testing their loyalty is all.”

Arthur hesitated. He knew Merlin was trustworthy. “I would trust Merlin with my life.”, he said. “I would never betray him like that.”, Arthur was angered now.   
“Oh, well.”, Lady Valery laughed. “I have yet to meet a servant who is worth this level of trust. Especially when you look at how he disrespects you. “  
She gave him a smug look. “They all break eventually.”

“I don´t care. I will not play your games with you.”, Arthur grimaced, angrily. He saw a few servants smile at him for that. And he knew he had made the right choice.

\------------------------------

“MERLIN!”, Arthur screamed as he stormed into Gaius´s chambers the very morning after.   
“He is not here Sire. He didn´t come home yesterday.”  
Alarmbells rang in Arthur´s head, thinking of the conversation from yesterday.

“Where is he?”, Arthur demanded to know, fear woven into his voice. Apparently Gaius didn´t notice, as he searched for a plausible excuse. After all, this was not the first time he was covering for Merlin.   
“I think he said he went to the tavern, Sire.”  
Never would Gaius knew how relieved Arthur was to hear that. And what consequences this would have.

It was three days later that Arthur didn´t buy these excuses anymore.  
It was Gwaine, actually, who made him realize that. Because, apparently Gwaine had been at the tavern Gaius told him about for a proximity of three and a half days. Because as long as he was drinking, he didn´t have to pay. Only when he was about to leave, he would have. Which has hard without money anyway.   
When Arthur and the knights got him out the tavern that night, Arthur realized that Merlin had never gone here in the first place. 

Shortly after, they stormed Lady Valery´s home. And demanded a servant to show him where the dungeons are. 

What the knights found there was terrifying.   
They saw two servants, balls on the ground, crying as they held the cuts on their bodies. There was a broken look in their bloody faces. But their horror was not for themselves. Even though they sat on the cold stoned floor.   
In their own dirt and excrement, because that was still warmer and safer than the bare ground.

Their eyes followed Arthur in fear, as they hurried closer to the wall. Heaving in fear.   
“Percival. Take them back to the castle. Take care of them. Ask Gaius for help,”, Arthur demanded. But he saw the blood was long dried. They must have been hurt days ago. And left just like this. 

Still, they could hear whipping and shouting. And – sassy remarks.   
Arthur could tell that voice from anyone.   
“Just – * whip *, tell me what you know about Arthur!”  
“You mean other that he´s a prat?”, they heard a huffing voice laugh at the man. Arthur signed his knights to follow, as he turned around the corner. His mind already clouding with red. 

“Take a break, Perry. This isn´t going anywhere.”, a woman said in annoyance.   
“Merlin, is it?”, she said, as if this was the first time she talked to him. Arthur could tell how unimpressed Merlin looked. 

“Yes, mam. What do you want?”  
“Oh – nothing. I just thought what a remarkable young man you must be. Arthur should be lucky to have you. You have been here for how long? Three days?”  
Merlin rolled his eyes. “I asked what you want.”, he said. “I´m pretty sure, your nice fellow – Perry was it? - needs to earn his bread by torturing me. So if you would hurry up please.”

Arthur held his breath. Merlin was covered in blood, like the other servants were. But Merlin looked almost bored. And Arthur hated that he was just watching, but he needed more information. And since they had let go of him for a short while...  
“If you insist. I was just wondering, if maybe you would like to help us take down this king of yours.”, she walked around him in a supposedly seducing manner. She wore a mask, just like this Perry man had. 

“And why would I help you?”

“Well – for example – you are still in Camelot.”  
Merlin raised an eyebrow. “And?”, he asked, unsure where this was going. 

Arthur, however knew. But he couldn´t stop them right now. Because she was already sewing doubts in Merlin´s mind. Now Arthur had to be sure what Merlin would answer. After all, he hadn´t searched for him in more than three days. Merlin had been left here to be tortured.   
Most knights broke after a session like this (at least by the looks of it) after two days max.   
The ones closest to Arthur held a week, before the torturers usually tended to harsher methods. 

Merlin was not a knight. He was a servant. He should be broken by now. How he was still holding up as a riddle for Arthur already. 

“Well – we have offered him to play this game with us – to – test you.”  
Now Merlin´s attention rose. But he looked suspicious.   
“And he agreed. You are here on his will, young servant. He doesn´t trust you as much as you think he does. I bet, with time you´re going to realize that.”

Merlin laughed, hard. Dried wounds on his chest reopening and bleeding at the movement, as Merlin spat out some blood.   
“Oh right. Because Arthur would totally do that.”

Arthur´s eyes widened, as he momentarily lowered his sword. He must be hearing things.   
The woman, formerly with her back towards Merlin, turned around to face him again.   
“What?”, she asked. She only half managed to conceal her surprise, before turning to Perry, who was drinking water from a flask next to her. 

“I thought you tortured him the past three days?”, she demanded to know. “Why is he still not breaking?”  
The man sighed, tired as it seemed. “I have, milady. I have barely slept to make sure he would spill some information, but it seems he´s endured far worse than I can do to him here before.”

“What?”, the woman turned to Merlin once more who just gave her a pitying smile. “I thought he didn´t tell you anything?”

Perry stood up, yawning a little. “He hasn´t. But I´ve seen his scars.”, he said, an impressed look visible even through the mask.   
“What do you mean, scars?”, she asked him, pulling up her dress to not get them bloodied as she stepped forward to him. Anger in her voice. 

“I mean, you can´t see them right now, through all the blood and stuff, but here, let me show you.”, he pulled of a bit of cloth from the ground. It was dirty and absolutely unsanitary, but it would do it´s job, as he cleaned of some blood from a certain spot on Merlin´s stomach.   
Again, he looked unimpressed still. 

“Is that-?”, she stepped back in fear, as she stared at Merlin still. Arthur took a breath, as he realized his oxygen level was slowly fading away. 

“A serket sting. Yes.”  
“How on earth did he survive that?”, she whispered. Arthur´s eyes widened. Merlin had been stung from a serket before? That – that couldn´t be. 

“Explain, boy!”, the woman pointed at Merlin, who still couldn´t move. He hung from the ceiling, after all. Arms bound to it, while his legs were bound to the ground.   
Merlin´s smile descended. “I don´t have to tell you anything.”, he said, spitting out blood that barely missed her shoes.   
“You! You will tell me or I will torture you that will make you wish it was Morgana torturing you.”, she threatened him. 

“Oh, so you mean, you´ll finally start trying? Good, I was getting bored.”, Merlin rolled his eyes, leaving Arthur´s mouth agape.   
She laughed.  
“Boy you don´t know what you´re talking about. I could do something to you that would make MORGANA´s torture seem like a massage.”

Merlin sighed. “I´ll be the judge of that.”  
She opened her mouth in to remark something, but Merlin shut her up with only a few more words.   
“I know neither of you has magic. I know you cannot mind control me, or extract information from my brain through some mystical creature.  
I know neither of you knows how to actually torture someone, because this is pathetic. Do you really think this is the first time I´ve been tortured to give away information?  
Morgana has taken good care of me before. Don´t worry. I know how to compare.”

This shut her up for a moment. Just like it did Perry.   
“You want to tell me – you´ve been tortured by Morgana herself, escaped and still haven´t given away information on Arthur OR Camelot?”

Now she fully backed away, while Perry let the cloth fall in the dirt again.   
“You cannot be serious.”, she chuckled half heartedly. Scared by the very man she was trying to break. 

“Why would I lie about that?”, Merlin sighed. “Now can you please let me down, so I can go and do my chores, please? We´re not getting anywhere like this. Just let me go. I still have to tell Arthur – but I might be able to persuade him to lower your punishment, Lady Valery and Sir Bernard.”

The woman paled, even underneath the mask. “How do you know who we -”

“I have an eye on everyone who comes too close to my king.”, he said with a smile. 

Then, Valery sighed, a smile creeping up her face. “You know what? I understand. You are loyal. I get that, that is a good thing. How about we go and kill everyone you love?”, her voice sounded strange now, as Sir Bernard tried to change her mind.   
“Oh and who would that be?”, Merlin asked, bored still. 

“Oh, we could hurt your friends, your parents – Gaius- the woman you love -”, she said cheekily, ignoring “Perry”, who was trying to hold her back. 

Merlin laughed at that, throwing his head back.   
“Oh you have no idea whom you´re talking to, do you?”, he said, as a tear of laughter burned it´s way through the blood on his face. 

Irritated, the woman pouted at him. “Do tell. Why couldn´t we do any of that?”

“Because, Lady Valery.”, Merlin lowered his head to hiss directly in her ear.   
“My mother lives in a kingdom protected from King Cendred. If you attack her, you could cause a war.   
Gaius is the best Physician in the kingdom you yourself live in, and is your own friend. And my friends are all knights. Or the king himself.”, Merlin declared proudly. 

She huffed. “I could still kill your father or the woman you love. How about I´d tell your king one of them possesses magic and get them killed for that? Would you still trust your king after that?”  
Merlin smiled back at her. 

“I met my father two years ago. Days later he died in my arms. And the woman I love? I buried her at the lake of Avalon. She was a cursed beast and Arthur himself killed her. There is literally no one left for you to kill.”

She was speechless now. Arthur felt the knights next to him stare at him in shock. 

“What?”, she stared at Merlin mouth agape.   
“And that´s not even half of it.”, Merlin announced. “Go ahead. I´m waiting.”, he said, provoking her with his words alone.   
As she raised her arms, to slap him, Arthur couldn´t hold it any longer. 

“I´ve heard enough, seize them.”, he said. He barely even noticed his emotions leaving him with an empty hollow feeling inside as Merlin noticed him.   
And his eyes brightened. “Arthur!”, he shouted happily. The gleam in his eyes, the smile, betraying everything Arthur had just heard. 

Hurriedly, he cut him free, catching Merlin´s weakened body in his arms.   
“Damn, Never thought I´d ever be glad to see you, clotpole.”, Merlin said with a laugh, before falling asleep in his arms right after.   
Arthur had no words for this. 

\-------------------------

The royals were banned from Camelot. Due to their status and their old friendship with Uther. (I know, it´s unfair.)  
Only when they left, Lady Valery turned around to Arthur once more.   
“Finally I understand, why you didn´t want to test him. He´s been through so much – even your best knight couldn´t compare.   
No wonder, he´s been at your side for so long.   
He is a loyal one. You won´t ever find someone like him in all the five lands of Albion.”, with a knowing look at Merlin, who stood next to Arthur with a cold expression on his face, she turned around to her ride. 

Arthur nodded at that. “I know.”, he just said.   
And maybe that was the first time he ever admitted that. It certainly was the first praise in a long time that Merlin had ever gotten.   
“We still need to talk about that serket sting, though.”, Arthur added and Merlin chuckled, already preparing another lie.


End file.
